text:
WGA votes to strike Mon.; more talks set for Sun.
The federal mediator in the WGA's contract talks has summoned negotiators to a last-ditch meeting set for 10 a.m. Sunday, in an effort to avoid a writers strike. The move follows news earlier Friday that the WGA West board and WGA East Council had voted to stage a writers strike starting at 12:01 a.m. Monday.
By Carl DiOrio, Leslie SImmons
Strike Zone: Latest on WGA talks
UPDATED: 10:10 a.m. PT Nov. 3, 2007
The federal mediator in the WGA's contract talks has summoned negotiators to a last-ditch meeting, set for 10 a.m. Sunday, in an effort to avoid a writers strike.
The place for the meeting — called by Juan Carlos Gonzalez of the Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service — is being kept under wraps. The potentially positive development Friday evening follows news earlier Friday that the WGA West board and WGA East Council had accepted a negotiating committee recommendation and set a writers strike for 12:01 a.m. Monday.
Barring a weekend agreement to forestall the walkout, pickets are expected at studios and networks on both coasts.
"We have 48 hours and what we really want to do is not strike and come to a resolution," John Bowman, chair of the WGA's negotiating committee, said at a news conference Friday to announce the strike decision.
Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers president Nick Counter heads the management negotiating team.
It was also recently disclosed that Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has connected with reps of the guild and the studio companies in an attempt to get talks back on track. The mayor met in person with WGAW president Patric Verrone and other labor execs Tuesday, and he subsequently discussed the situation with studio reps.
Yet it's not clear how much muscle Villaraigosa is willing to exert to force himself into the situation as an actual deal broker.
Before he got into politics, Villaraigosa was a labor organizer. But the mayor has close relationships on both sides of the labor-management divide and has told the parties he needs to maintain strict objectivity if he's to succeed in any efforts to foster an improved dialogue between the WGA and the AMPTP.
There also has been speculation that the AMPTP will deliver a new proposal to the guild over the weekend. The most troublesome issues to date in the WGA-AMPTP contract talks have been DVD residuals and new-media compensation.
There have been recent suggestions among well-placed industryites that the studios may prove more flexible on the latter than the former. But it's unclear whether that's based on wishful thinking or actual back channel dialogue between the parties.
"Our position is simple and fair," Verrone said. "When a writer's work generates revenue for the companies, that writer deserves to be paid."
On Thursday night, WGAW brass told 3,000 writers it was recommending a strike action to the board.
"The WGA leadership continues to mischaracterize the current provisions for compensation in new media," Counter said Friday prior to word of the Sunday meeting. "When a consumer pays to view a TV program or a feature film for a limited period of time, the writer gets a residual. When the consumer pays for a permanent download of a TV program or feature film, the writer gets a residual. …
"It is crucial that we have provisions that encourage, not inhibit, our ability to experiment, innovate, analyze and adapt to the transformative changes confronting us," the AMPTP president said. "We cannot ignore the challenges of today's economic realities, the shifts in audience taste and viewing habits and the unpredictability of the still-evolving technology.
"Our goal continues to be to reach a fair and reasonable agreement that will keep the industry working."
WGAE president Michael Winship said the decision to strike was not one "we take lightly."
Winship added there might still be time to craft a deal before the strike begins, and he urged the studios to "come back and bargain fairly."
Villaraigosa was in Seattle on Friday to deliver a morning speech before the U.S. Conference of Mayors, but he was expected back in Los Angeles by Friday evening.
The WGA's current film and TV agreement with the AMPTP expired midnight Wednesday. With the membership meeting Thursday and the board and council meetings Friday, guild brass decided it would be better to hold off picketing until Monday than to mount a strike action over the weekend.
The last major strike by Hollywood writers was in 1988, when a 22-week WGA work stoppage effectively shut down the town. Economic impact on the L.A. economy was estimated to run as high as $500 million.
"Our sense is we can do some economic damage immediate," Bowman said, adding the point of the strike is to "inflict as much damage as quickly as possible" in order to bring about a resolution.
Picketing plans were being disseminated to strike captains but details of timing and location were closely guarded.
Guild rank and file again distributed flyers at studio and networks sites Friday, following similar earlier "informational" efforts.
A WGAE flyer read in part: "The studios and networks make billions from the content we create. All we want is our fair share. They have refused. We don't want to strike, but we must defend the standards of our profession. We ask for your understanding and your support."
Meanwhile, if the writers do walk, some will start wondering anew what the DGA will do.
The DGA, like SAG, is under contract until June 30. But many expect the directors to start early talks with the AMPTP on its own new film and TV deal.
If successful in such talks, a DGA agreement could set a template that the other guilds are effectively forced to follow–perhaps including terms on DVD and the Internet. A well-placed source confirmed strategy meetings are afoot already at the DGA, which has formed a working negotiations committee.
One thing under discussion: whether to pick up the phone and ring the AMPTP about starting early contract talks. The source suggested that could happen sometime this month.


In 1930 my paternal grandparents lived in this house on the side of Missionary Ridge. It has been extensively remodeled since then. From here they moved to Sand Mountain to farm through the depression.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized on Monday, 14-May-2018 by .


Earlier this week, my book club met together to discuss our most recent book choice: The Magic of Ordinary Days by Ann Howard Creel. Prior to the book being introduced at our last meeting, I hadn't heard of it but a few of the people in our group had and the general feeling was positive. The title definitely caught my attention because it seems like a contradiction. I was able to read through it in a few days and it kept my attention throughout.
This post contains affiliate links which means if you click on it and make a purchase I will receive a small commission at no extra charge to you.
Olivia (Livvy) Dunne is the oldest of three daughters. She is studious and has dreams of exploring the world and becoming an archeologist. But her dreams get put on hold when her mother becomes sick shortly after the youngest daughter gets married and Livvy is left to take care of her. When her mother passes away, she is consumed by grief and unable to work through it. As a result, she makes a decision that unknowingly alters her future. Livvy is sent to a small town in Colorado in the 1940s where she marries a shy farmer–a marriage that has been arranged by her father. Overwhelmed by loneliness, she befriends two Japanese sisters who work on her husband's farm and live at a nearby internment camp. Slowly she begins to feel like she's found a place and becomes more comfortable in her new life. Meanwhile, her husband (Ray) tries patiently to show he cares about her, but Livvy is resistant based on her past. When Olivia unknowingly become an accomplice to a crime, she finally learns how to confront her past and move forward into the future.
The Magic of Ordinary Days was an enjoyable book with characters who feel very real. Livvy is faced with learning how to recognize true love and how to trust others. It is well written, however, I would have liked the ending not to wrap up so quickly.
It takes Livvy quite a while to warm up to Ray. Do you think Livvy is too hard on Ray? Are you surprised her feelings changed?
Why is it so easy for Livvy to become friends with Rose and Lorelei? How are their situations similar?
What is the significance of Rose and Lorelei's fascination with butterflies?
How does Livvy finally come to learn the difference between true love and what she thought was true love?
What characteristics of Ray's helped him feel like a real person?
Discuss the importance of love and trust in relationships. Can you have one without the other?
OMG I hate when moms die in things…it always breaks my heart!!!
The title of this book has me drawn in already! I think I'll have to read this one. I love that you mentioned the characters are "real." I hate when I find myself reading a book with unrelatable characters.
I have added this to my goodreads and pinned it. Looks good.
It was! I wouldn't say it was a book that changed my life or anything but it was definitely a good read.
Same here Erica! But it was good knowing that something good came from it (she found someone to love).
The title caught my attention too! And seriously, I hate when I am reading a book and I can't imagine myself in it or think of someone who reminds me of the characters. For me, part of the joy of reading comes from being able to identify with the characters in some way.
Most definitely. It is a book I am glad that I took the time to read.


text:
Q: MSBuild on Win 2012 server not finding SDKToolsPath I have a new Win 2012 64bit server on which I've installed Win 10 SDK and also copied from my development machine v8.0A and v8.1 to the dir:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows
I'm trying to use Jenkins/MSBuild to build a x64 .Net 4.0 project but I get the error:

C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\Microsoft.Common.targets(2428,5): error MSB3086: Task could not find "LC.exe" using the SdkToolsPath "" or the registry key "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v8.0A\WinSDK-NetFx40Tools-x86". Make sure the SdkToolsPath is set and the tool exists in the correct processor specific location under the SdkToolsPath and that the Microsoft Windows SDK is installed

I've tried several approaches such as :
Running MSBuild fails to read SDKToolsPath
LC.exe file not found during build for .NET 4
Without success:

*

*I can't find WindowsSdkVer.exe anywhere.

*I've added the Env Variable SdkToolsPath but it's not respected.

A: With powershell, run
reg query "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v8.0A\WinSDK-NetFx40Tools-x86"

And you should get something that looks like
    ProductVersion    REG_SZ    4.6.00081
    ComponentName    REG_SZ    Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6 SDK
    InstallationFolder    REG_SZ    C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v10.0A\bin\NETFX 4.6 Tools\

But the fact that you get SdkToolsPath "" back probably means that registry doesn't exist, or InstallationFolder is an empty string as well.
I just figured this out myself, so I don't know the extents of potential failures, but I ran the reg query locally and got the value C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v10.0A\bin\NETFX 4.6 Tools\ for InstallationFolder (I don't know what the path would look like for v8.0A). I then copied the folder bin\NETFX onto my server, and then added a the registry to point to that location.
Something like:
reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v8.0A\WinSDK-NetFx40Tools-x86" /d "C:\bin\NETFX 4.6 Tools\\" /t REG_SZ /v InstallationFolder

Check WOW6432Node
I added the registry to point to my local copy, but no matter what I couldn't get msbuild to use my supplied path. I saw that some people were querying against WOW6432, and so I I queried "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v8.0A\WinSDK-NetFx40Tools-x86"locally and saw that it existed and was populated. I then added the registry on the server, and everything just works after that.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


The Eruption of Bromo 2015 – 2016 – Mount Bromo is an active volcanic mountain located in Probolinggo, Pasuruan, Lumajang and Malang Regency. It stands at 2329 meters above the sea level. Mount Bromo was last erupted in the 2011 and now the Bromo begins its act again. this video was taken at the p30 hill placed in the Argosari District, Lumajang, from here we can clearly see the condensed smoke soaring from the Bromo crater. Since early november 2015, bromo crater area was closed to the public, and the status was turned into high alert, then on the last December 2015 the mountain's status was changed to standby. The last thing that we can ask is hopefully that Bromo's status is getting better so the tourism activity could be back to normal.


text:
Operation Bøllebank war ein Feuergefecht zwischen den Dänischen Streitkräften der United Nations Protection Force und der Armee der Republika Srpska während des Bosnienkrieges. Der Name Bøllebank wurde nach den Kampfhandlungen vergeben und ist das dänische Wort für Hooligan-Schlägerei.

Hintergrund
Das dänische Militär war seit 1991 an der UN-Mission beteiligt. Als Reaktion auf die Übergriffe gegenüber Zivilisten und UN-Mitarbeiter in den UN-Schutzzonen entsandte die dänische Regierung im Herbst 1993 eine Panzerkompanie nach Bosnien. Nach langem Streit über das UN-System der Hilfeleistung und dem Überwinden der bürokratischen Hürden wurde die Kompanie im Februar 1994 dem Nordic-Bataillon 2 (NORDBAT 2) zugeteilt. Das Einsatzgebiet war Tuzla und Umgebung. Aufgrund der Luftangriffe der NATO (Operation Deny Flight) und mehrerer Aktionen der UN war die Lage angespannt.

Die als DANSQN (Danish Tank Squadron) bezeichnete und mit dem Leopard 1A5 ausgerüstete Kompanie war fest eingeplant zum Schutz des zirka 10 km südlich gelegenen Flughafens (Einsatzplan Bøllebank), der Bevölkerung im Einsatzgebiet sowie verbündeter Truppen.

29. April 1994
Der 29. April 1994 war nach Angaben der UN-Streitkräfte ein Tag voller Routine. Gegen 22:00 Uhr wurde vom schwedischen Beobachtungsposten Tango 2 ein Notruf empfangen. Der mit sieben Soldaten besetzte Außenposten nahe der Gemeinde Kalesija wurde beschossen. Die darauf entsandten sieben Leopard 1 und ein schwedischer Transportpanzer Pansarbandvagn 302 gerieten 10 km vor dem Ziel im Dorf Sarači unter Feuer, erwiderten dieses jedoch nicht. Kurz vor dem Erreichen von Tango 2 wurden die Panzer mit einer 40-mm-Antipanzerkanone und mit Panzerabwehrraketen beschossen. Der Kommandeur Lars R. Møller nannte es einen ugly ambush – einen hässlichen Hinterhalt.

Nach der Verweigerung der angeforderten Luftunterstützung entschied Møller, das Feuer zu erwidern. In dem zwei Stunden anhaltenden Feuergefecht wurden mehrere Munitionslager sowie Artilleriestellungen getroffen. Von den Leopard 1 wurden insgesamt 72 Schuss abgefeuert. Die Verluste auf serbischer Seite beliefen sich laut serbischen Mitteilungen auf neun Personen, inoffizielle Quellen gaben jedoch 150 Tote sowie weitere Verwundete an. Die anwesenden drei T-55 des serbischen Militärs wurden nach Angaben Møllers vom dänischen Militär bei dem Gefecht verschont, weil die Infrarot-Beobachtung der (kalten) Panzerkanonen belegte, dass diese zwar ihre Zieleinrichtungen aktiviert, aber nicht direkt an den Kampfhandlungen teilgenommen hatten. Nach den strengen UN-Mandatsregeln darf nur gegen feuernde Einheiten das Feuer erwidert werden.

Weblinks
 Milhist.dk Operation "Hooligan-bashing" – Danish Tanks at War

Einzelnachweise

Bollebank
Bollebank
Konflikt 1994

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Born out of art school academia and the first wave punk scene at CBGB's, Talking Heads was a group armed with intellectualism and intention. Unlike their New York City contemporaries, the Heads weren't interested in the three power-chord formula that hallmarked the punk movement. Rather, band leader David Byrne penned stripped-down rock songs with more emphasis on groove and lyricism. Thanks to charting singles like "Psycho Killer" and "Take Me To The River," the band had successfully put the music industry's head on a swivel. Moreover, record executive Seymour Stein worked to distance the Heads from the negative connotations of punk by convincing the press to rebrand the group as the embodiment of the much trendier "new-wave". The marketing scheme worked, and Talking Heads were all the rage. Despite the successful start, the band still had bigger aspirations in mind.
When it came to write and record their third record, Byrne was looking to push the Heads into more experimental territory. In a move that would usher in the group's most productive era, they decided to give more creative control to their producer, the already legendary Brian Eno. Talking Heads was prepared to embark on their most ambitious venture yet and make the crossover to a full-on dance band. Conceptual, paranoiac and irrepressibly groovy, Fear of Music was the first undeniable masterpiece from David Byrne and co.
Roaring out of the gates on track one, "I Zimbra" shatters any preconceived ideas fans may have had about Talking Heads. The record immediately challenges listeners with polyrhythms inspired by Nigerian funk icon Fela Kuti. Tina Weymouth's bass furiously slaps around while Jerry Harrison shreds an incendiary groove. It's a jarring opener, but it constructs the chaotic framework of the album. Moving forward, "Mind" rocks to a driving bass thump and prickly, staccato guitar lead. The back to back anthems "Cities" and "Life During Wartime" are uptempo pump-up jams urging the audience to move. On these two singles, the riffs are huge, complemented with Byrne's preacher-like delivery. Across the record, the Head's phenomenal musicality is elevated to transcendent heights with additions brought to the table by Brian Eno. Nearly every song features his strange synth sounds and left-field percussive elements. It is these little strokes of oddball genius that add up in a big way: for the first time the avant-garde was blatantly infused with dance music.
Thematically, Fear of Music documents Byrne's gradual descent into a full on nervous breakdown. As mentioned earlier, "I Zimbra" sets the unhinged tone of the record musically, but also lyrically, as it is composed of made-up words. It may seem that the choice to use made up words for lyrics is an example of Byrne and Eno indulging in art school pretension, but a closer inspection of the record's liner notes reveals songwriting credit to an "H. Ball." Hugo Ball was a poet and founder of Dadaism, an anti-art movement that celebrated meaninglessness at the height of World War I. With this in mind, "I Zimbra" transforms into a desperate cry for clarity and order. On "Mind", Byrne laments about a person unwilling to listen to him. The subject of the song disregards time, money, religion, science and more. "Cities" is equally unnerving and humorous. In this vignette, the subject of the song would desperately like to "find a city to live in." Perhaps a safe home is all Byrne needs to alleviate his paranoia. Up next the hypnotic centerpiece of the album, "Life During Wartime," is not only the most danceable song on Fear, but the most vivid in its portrait of mass paranoia. Lyrics like "You oughta know not to stand by the window/someone will see you up there" and "I've got three passports, couple of visas/you don't even know my real name" speak for themselves.


text:
/ News / Local News /
« Keene Central needs 60% of v... Did Kate Smith make up for r...»
Northwood School fire put out quickly
By GRIFFIN KELLY - Staff Writer (gkelly@adirondackdailyenterprise.com) , Lake Placid News
LAKE PLACID - A fire in a Northwood School dormitory damaged a room and left a student with a minor burn on Thursday morning, May 2.
Fire department officials said the fire started when a student's clothes were left too close to the dorm room's electric baseboard heater.
"During first period, the school's fire detection and alarm system was activated, and the school was evacuated according to our usual procedures," Head of School Michael Maher wrote in a statement. "All Students, faculty, and staff were quickly accounted for and safe."
In a phone interview, Assistant Head of Student Life John Spear said the student whose dorm the fire started in suffered a small blister on the top of the foot and was back in class later that day. Another student lives in that room, too, but they weren't there during the fire, Spear said. He added that the two students were relocated into a different dorm while their room is cleaned.
The Lake Placid Volunteer Fire Department responded with four trucks and 20 members to the Northwood School at 92 Northwood Road at 8:15 a.m. By the time they arrived, school officials had mostly knocked down the fire with an extinguisher. The fire crew made sure the flames didn't spread, then aired out the building for smoke. They were back in service at 10:27 a.m.
Spear said the fire didn't really disrupt classes. It delayed some of first period, but the school just finished that up at the end of the day.
"We're lucky to live in a community where the emergency services responded so quickly and efficiently," Spear said.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: Why iradon returns negative pixel values? I took 200 projections at a step angle of 1.8 degrees using LabVIEW software. The size of the image is 2748 x 2748 pixels, uint16. Then using Matlab, I load the projection images, do the flat field correction, resize the image by 1/3 and save the images as .mat file. Then I run the code below for the filtered backprojection.
interp='linear'; %set interpolation: nearest, linear, spline, pchip, v5cubic
filter='Hann'; %set filter: Ram-Lak, Shepp-Logan, Cosine, Hamming, Hann, None

for s=1:916

   for i=1:200
   a(i,:)=proj065(:,s,i);
   end
   a=a';
   %figure(3), imagesc(a)
   b=iradon(a,1.8,interp,filter);
   imagesc(b);
   recon(:,:,s)=b;
   s
   clear a
end

If I used a filter in this code, I will get negative pixel values.
But, if I run the code without the filter, I will get positive pixel values.
Any idea why iradon returns negative pixel values in filtered back projection?
Thank you.
Nurul

A: Yes, the FBP (filtered back-projection) algorithm will do that. It can wrongly reconstruct voxels as having negative values, due to noise and discretization on the data. Nothing you can do about it than just crop those values generally.
As my PhD is about tomography reconstruction algorithms I feel contractually obligated (joking) to suggest the use of iterative algorithms to possibly obtain better images (never worse, often considerably better). Check SART/SIRT or CGLS for this problem.
However, you are calling your function wrong! In tomography, the step size is not enough to reconstruct an image, you generally need the exact angles, thus iradon doesnt accept a step size as an input, it accepts an array of angles.
in your case, theta should be theta=linspace(0,360-200/360,200), and you should call iradon(a,theta,...)


The Official Richard O'Brien's The Rocky Horror Show game with a tantalizing twist on the rhythm action genre for your tablet & mobile!
315 backers pledged $39,656 to help bring this project to life.
One of the key aspects of the game that we really haven't been able to explain yet are the Props. The items on the stage like the Coffin we currently see animate if we tap it during our dance.
The additional stage items are unlocked by play and given out by our audio-vibratory-physio-molecular-Rewards-Generator. Once unlocked they will appear on your stage sets and be the key to unlocking cool extra dance moves. The idea is that as we create our own dances for our friends we may want to add special, Quick-Time dance moves which increase the variety and interest in the game. We call them Quick-Time because of games where players are expected to perform a series of set moves to, say do a finishing move in a combat game. In our case we are asking players to draw specific patterns once the Prop is activated in order to trigger a special dance animation. For example, if you tap on the Coffin in the Hunting Lodge not only will it animate as an object on stage, but it might drawing a spiral for you to follow in order to trigger 'The Twist' dance animation. Each prop will have its own associated patterns and dance moves, such as spelling out letters from Rocky to trigger, for example, 'The Cabbage Patch' or 'The Robot' moves.
However, each prop will only be usable a certain number of times a day when creating a dance – so there is a sense of jeopardy for you to make sure you get your timing right! But, don't worry when you are trying to copy a friend's dance – you won't have to own that prop yourself to be able to enjoy it. You just have to try to get your timing right and try to out-perform them in terms of the timing.
We love the way Props will allow us to ensure that the game experience continues to evolve and make all the dances more interesting to watch and perform. We hope you will too but as none of this extra functionality has been built yet – you'll get to help us make sure that we make this experience amazing if you back us!
Don't Dream It… Back Us!
June Birtcher Mills likes this update.


text:
Q: PDMiner missing periods I want to extract the text content of this PDF: https://www.welivesecurity.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/ESET_Okrum_and_Ketrican.pdf
Here is my code:
import os
import re
from io import StringIO

from pdfminer.converter import TextConverter
from pdfminer.pdfinterp import PDFResourceManager, PDFPageInterpreter
from pdfminer.pdfpage import PDFPage

def get_pdf_text(path):
    rsrcmgr = PDFResourceManager()
    with StringIO() as outfp, open(path, 'rb') as fp:
        device = TextConverter(rsrcmgr, outfp)
        interpreter = PDFPageInterpreter(rsrcmgr, device)
        for page in PDFPage.get_pages(fp, check_extractable=True):
            interpreter.process_page(page)
        device.close()
        text = re.sub('\\s+', ' ', outfp.getvalue())
    return text

if __name__ == '__main__':
    path = './ESET_Okrum_and_Ketrican.pdf'
    print(get_pdf_text(path))

But in the extracted text, some period characters are missing:

is a threat group believed to be operating out of China Its attacks were first reported in 2012, when the group used a remote access trojan (RAT) known as Mirage to attack high-profile targets around the world However, the group's activities were traced back to at least 2010 in FireEye's 2013 report on operation Ke3chang – a cyberespionage campaign directed at diplomatic organizations and missions in Europe The attackers resurfaced

It really annoys me, because I'm doing natural language processing on the extracted text, and without the periods the whole document is considered as one big sentence.
I strongly suspect that it's because the /ToUnicode map of the PDF contains bad data, because I had the same problem with PDF.js. I have read this answer that says that whenever the /ToUnicode map of a PDF is bad, there is no way to correctly extract its text without doing OCR.
But I have also been using pdf2htmlEX and PDFium (the PDF renderer of Chrome), and they all work very well to extract all the characters of a PDF (at least for this PDF, that is).
For instance, when I give this PDF to pdf2htmlEX, it detects that the /ToUnicode data is bad and it drops the font for a new one:

So my question is, is it be possible for PDFMiner to use the same feature than pdf2htmlEX and PDFium and that allows to extract correctly all the characters of a PDF even with bad /ToUnicode data?
Thank you for your help.

A: I don't think this is fixable, because the tool does nothing wrong. After investigation, the PDF writes out a real period, the instruction used is:
(.) Tj

The (.) stands for character 0x2E (which is the correct character for a period (or "full stop") in Unicode as well).
However, the font used has a ToUnicodeMap (yeay!), but it appears to be mapping the period to the wrong character (boo!):
<2E> <0020>

So the period character is mapped to the 0x0020 character, which is, wait for it, a space.
So your options are to find a tool that can fix this in the Unicode Map for this font (I don't know of any), or use something like OCR instead.

A: Actually the PDF is similar to the one inspected in this answer:

*

*According to the Encoding entry of the font at hand, it uses regular WinAnsiEncoding for codes from 0x20 on upwards, so the code 0x2E would represent the period character.

*As @David already pointed out in his answer, though, the code 0x2E (a period according to the Encoding, see above) in the ToUnicode map is mapped to U+0020, the regular space character.

*In the page content streams yet another mechanism to map drawn text to Unicode is used, marked content with ActualText properties, e.g. in case of the extracted text quoted by the OP:
(, also known as APT15, is a threat group believed to be operating out of\
 China)Tj
/Span<</ActualText<FEFF002E>>> BDC
(.)Tj
EMC

i.e. the 0x2E (= '.' in ASCII) code in (.)Tj, which according to the Encoding represents a period which in turn by the ToUnicode map is corrected to represent a space character, is marked to actually represent 0xFEFF002E in UTF16 Unicode which is a BOM and a period character.
Thus,

*

*text extractors only seeing the Encoding of the font see 0x2E as period (most likely pdf2htmlEX is such a case, explicitly ignoring the ToUnicode map here);

*text extractors also seeing the ToUnicode map but not the ActualText marked text property see 0x2e as space (as pdfminer does);

*text extractors also seeing the ActualText marked text property see 0x2E as period (e.g. Adobe Reader copy&paste).

This explicit misleading of some text extractors usually is done to make automatic text extraction (most such automatic text extractors use ToUnicode but not ActualText) extract incorrectly while still allowing copy&paste from Adobe Reader.


text:
Staining in Orange, CA
Staining Guys in Orange, CA feels using a high quality stain for your wooded fence especially if you intend on planting flowers and trees in front of it is very important. Though all stains will eventually fail and require future maintenance, there are many products on the market that simply outlast others. Often times, fences will be neglected because the plants around the wood are simply too big, so protecting the fence for as long as possible is key. This is achieved by using different applications along with top quality products.
The experts at Staining Guys in Orange, CA says it is necessary to protect both sides of the fence? This is a very popular question. Often times people will ask us to stain just one side of the fence. This does add some protection to the wood, however, the result is that the fence is still only half protected. Exposed wood vulnerable to UV rays and high moisture will discolour and be most noticeable in a very short time period.
Staining Guys in Orange, CA is available now to speak with you, 800-618-6838.
Home » CA » Staining in Orange
Orange, CA, USA
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Zip codes near Orange, CA
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Staining Experts in Orange, CA


Micah loves to help. "Heping you, Mommy?" He asks. He loves to rake, do laundry, take the trash cans to the street, empty the dishwasher, sweep, clean the bathroom. If mommy is doing it, Micah wants to do it to. It is very sweet.
Of course, a two-year old's version of "heping" is sometimes not terribly helpful. Very often, the chores he is helping with must be modified or simplified or redone. But his willing heart is just so sweet and it's worth a little extra work on my part to let my little buddy know that his efforts matter to me.
Even my best efforts at living righteously are nothing apart from the Lord's help.
And when this life is over, if I have served Him well, I will be able to lay my crowns at His feet.
Sarah, I had not thought of "heping" in these terms before. What a wonderful perspective. God certainly does not "need" me and yet has chosen Broken, Incompetent, yet hopefully willing me to accomplish things for Him. Thank you.
"Broken, incompetent, yet hopefully willing me to accomplish things for Him" - it describes us all! So grateful the Lord sees past our weaknesses and shows His strength through them!
I had never thought of it in that way before... Thank you!
I'm sure having little ones in the house you are perfectly familiar with not-so-helpful helping!
I am right there with you. So grateful to God that He chooses to let me try and works in my life for His glory!
Good insights, Sarah. So true!
Thank you. There are so many parallels between the parent-child relationship and our relationship with God. I am grateful He gives us those little glimpses into His heart here on earth.


Much like Jack Parsons and myself, George Pendle is a man of many eclectic tastes. It turns out, he wrote an article on barbed wire! We discuss that, as well as his obsession with airport carpeting, and the alternative history of clown prohibition!


text:
import curryN from 'funny-curry-n'
import prepend from 'funny-prepend'

/**
 * Zip.
 *
 * @param  {Array} left  Items to zip on the left.
 * @param  {Array} right Items to zip on the right.
 * @return {Array}       Zipped list.
 */
function _zip (left, right) {
  const lastIndex = Math.min(left.length, right.length) - 1
  return _recursiveZip([], lastIndex, left, right)
}

/**
 * Internal recursive zip function.
 *
 * @param  {Array}  acc   Accumulated result.
 * @param  {Number} index Index to add to zipped list.
 * @param  {Array}  left  Items to zip on the left.
 * @param  {Array}  right Items to zip on the right.
 * @return {Array}        Zipped list.
 */
function _recursiveZip (acc, index, left, right) {
  if (index < 0) {
    return acc
  }

  return _recursiveZip(prepend([left[index], right[index]], acc), index - 1, left, right)
}

const zip = curryN(2, _zip)

export default zip

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Don't know if you have heard but MAC recently had a 25% sale on all their Christmas sets and their pre-made eyeshadow palettes. If my memory serves me right, I've never witness a 25% rebate from the brand this close to Christmas (in fact, never saw 25% EVER), maybe 20% a year or so ago. Being the makeup addict that I am, I went a little crazy and ordered up a bunch of stuff online 😁.
This is my first ever pigments/glitter from MAC. First thing to note is that last year's sets did contain 5 pigments 😕- so, higher price and less products! I love the 3 pigments: the colors are spectacular. The downfall is the glitter (not eyes friendly) that I will probably never use unless next summer, I mix a little bit of it with my body cream or oil. As I paid 31$CND, and considering that I will really use 3 out of the four, it was definitely not a bargain but then again, I'm in love with these little pigment wonders. Since it takes such a small amount of product to get a maximum effect, I will have them for years. BTW the case that they come in is sturdy and very practical.
Extraordinary! Out of this world! A must for every makeup lover! You know I'm talking about Paint Pots right? My love for them are legendary (well as legendary as I am, which is not that much but moving on…!!!) I paid 38$CND for this set, and alone, the paint pot in Stormy Pink is 26$CND and the Fluidline in Macroviolet is 19,50$CND. So I basically got a very decent double-ended brush (to my great surprise!!!) & a full sized False Lashes mascara in False Black (27$CND) for free (Yay!).
I also bought the pre-made Eye Shadow X 15 palette in Cool Neutral. Since it's not on sale now and not part of their Holiday sets, I'll review it in January. It will give me time to play with it during my Christmas break. When I purchased it, it was 25% off too (74$CND) !!!
The pigments sets are debatable! If you urgently need one, you love MAC products or you wanted to try them for awhile now, the quality and the price are just OK. On the other hand, you can't get wrong with the lip bags or any eye bag. They have on their website a lot more stuff but in my experience, the brush sets & the holiday eyeshadow palettes are not the same quality as their regular counterparts. The glosses sets are also very interesting and the format is surprisingly big.
Thanks for stopping by my beauties.
I got some of those Mac sets for Christmas from my aunt LOVE THEM!
Oh my gosh you are a crazy chick!
I think it's silly to include glitters that aren't eye safe!
If I was going to break down for anything, it would have been the Paint Pot set that you got – I don't have those colours – Stormy Pink is gorgeous. And such great value again!
I kind of broken down 😛 You just wait and see how good I am in the low-buy !!!
What is the best way to use the pigments ??? With Fix + ??? Glitter Glue???
You NEED Stormy Pink in your life, it's the best brownish/pink crease shade of life !!!
I use pigments like I do with loose pigments – just on top of Paint Pot. They adhere fine – no need for glitter glue. If you want to foil them you can use Fix+.
Paints Pots are probably the BEST/LOVE products that I own ! You are such a bad influence 😛 Do you have a favorite (excluding Painterly or Soft Ochre) ?


I absolutely love this way of making pie crust, and it has the added benefit of making the minerals and other nutrients in the grain more available by use of yogurt and the overnight soak. The result is very flaky and richly flavored. I prefer to use spelt, as it has more of a nutty flavor than wheat, but both are really good.
The first version uses more yogurt for a nice tart flavor that goes well with savory pies such as mince meat or Lebanese Spinach Pie. The second version uses only a small amount of yogurt and is thus suitable for sweet pies made with fruit or pudding, or lightly-savory quiche.
This is an all purpose dough for two 10-inch tart or pie shells, or one 10-inch 2-crust pie, or 8 – 10 individual pocket tarts. Recipe is from Nourishing Traditions (1).
Spelt poses a special problem because it is water soluble, and with all the yogurt, it makes the dough too soft. The solution is either to use less yogurt of more flour; I prefer to use more flour.
This version is a must for savory pies, but for all other pies I prefer Yogurt Pie Crust II below, and have developed variations for different amounts of crust (1- or 2-crust, and different size pans).
Cream yogurt with butter. Blend in flour and salt. If too moist, add a bit more flour, ½ tsp at a time. If too dry, add a bit of filtered water, 1 tsp at a time.
Cover and leave in a warm place for 12-24 hours (overnight is good).
If making a pre-baked tart shell, prick will with a fork and place in cold oven. Turn heat to 350 degrees and bake 20 – 30 minutes.
If making individual pocket tarts (as for spinach or mince pies), divide dough into equal portions. Roll each to ⅛ inch thick circles. Fill with filling, then bring up three sides and seal.
Bake as instructed in pie recipe.
4/19-20/2014: The 20th is Easter, and I'm roasting a leg of lamb which I like to accompany with Lebanese Spinach Pies. I like using this yogurt crust recipe for those pies but have not made it for some time. This time I'm making a half-recipe and using hard white whole wheat instead of spelt. My spelt version calls for 1 ¾ cup flour for a half-recipe, so I started with 1 ½ cup of whole wheat. It was hard to mix with the ½ cup each yogurt and butter, so I added about 1 Tbsp water and that brought it to the right texture. I've updated the recipe (above) appropriately, for a whole recipe (3 cups whole wheat or 3 ½ cups whole spelt). Covered tightly with a sheet of waxed paper around the ball of dough, placed that in the bowl and covered bowl with cloth. It gets cold in the house at night, so I set it on top of a trivet on my pilot-lit stove so that it will not get too hard to work tomorrow.
I prefer this version (over previous), adapted from Make a Home Mom (2)(MAHM) blog, for fruity or other sweet pies. It uses less yogurt, mixed with ice-cold water (so you don't have to cream the yogurt with butter, which is difficult to do), than the previous recipe.
The recipe is for a 2-crust pie in 9″ pan. See Modifications, below, for other pan sizes and single-crust variations.
This recipe is very similar to regular pie crust recipe, except part of the moisture is from yogurt. One should use pastry flour, which is a soft wheat flour (less gluten). Spelt flour is more like pastry flour than hard or all-purpose flour, so is a good substitute, and actually, I prefer its nuttier flavor.
When using wheat, start with 3 Tbsp water (you start with less if using spelt); then add more as necessary. Makes one 2-crust set, or crusts for 2 single-crust pies, or about 14 each 4″ rounds for tarts/turnovers. See below for other pan sizes, one-crust ingredients.
MAHM recommends 11th Heaven's Homemaking Haven blog (3) for a tutorial with pictures (doesn't include the soaking part).
Stir in melted butter (or oil), then cut in cold butter/lard with pastry cutter, until pieces are small and mostly uniform 'pea-size'.
Mix yogurt and 3 Tbsp ice water (if using wheat) or 2 Tbsp (if using spelt), then mix into flour/butter mixture, adding more ice water 1 Tbsp at a time, if necessary. Don't overmix, but it should form a ball.
Cover with waxed paper and let rest on counter in a cool spot overnight (12 hours or so, 50 – 68 F).
Roll out on well-floured surface or waxed paper. If dough is too soft (too moist), use a bit of coconut flour for rolling. Alternately, press dough into pan(s); I prefer pressing dough into pan for my Tarte aux Poires recipe and for tarte-like Kuchens.
Tested 6/21/10: Made half recipe, with mix of spelt, oat and barley. Easy to make, good flavor and rolls nicely. See Testing Details, below.
Unless otherwise noted, these versions use spelt flour; if using wheat flour, add more warm water for the presoak.
NOTE: this flour mix has higher percentage of spelt, so needs less relative moisture than either the 9″ or 9×13″ pan versions. If using wheat flour, will need about 1 Tbsp additional water, Also makes a bit more than needed for the quiche pan, unless you want a thick crust.
2 cups whole grain flour (or 1 ½ cup how, ½ cup white), ½ tsp salt, scant ⅛ tsp stevia or 2 Tbsp Rapadura (optional), 9-11 Tbsp butter (3 Tbsp melted, 6-8 Tbsp cold; changed from 3 Tbsp melted, 5 Tbsp cold), 2 Tbsp yogurt, 1-2 Tbsp warm water. Tested 6/21/10; see Peach Kuchen testing.
1 ½ cups whole grain flour, ½ tsp salt, ½ tsp rapadura, 7 Tbsp butter (3 T melt, 4 T cold), 1 – 1 ½ T yogurt, 1-3 Tbsp warm water.
This recipe was tested 4/28/13 using part wheat, part quinoa flour and almond meal, rather than spelt. See Peach Kuchen testing. I've not tested this with spelt, but it would likely need less water. Start with 2 tsp and add more as needed, 1 tsp at a time.
Testing 6/20-21/10: Made for small pie, with 3/4 cup spelt, 1/4 cup each barley and oat, 3/8 tsp each salt and sugar, 2 Tbsp melted butter and 1/4 cup cold butter (6 Tbsp total butter). Mixed 1 Tbsp yogurt with 2 Tbsp ice water, but it was too much liquid – spelt doesn't need as much. So I added 1/4 cup additional spelt and then again, before texture was right (total 1/2 cup extra added). This was probably too much handling. Wrapped in waxed paper for the overnight rest. Next day, pressed it (rather than rolling) into pie pan to make a small berry kuchen (half the Peach or Plum Kuchen recipe). Result: crust is more tender than I thought considering how much I worked it. It was easy to press into pan, too. Nice flavor. Next time, I'll use original amount of flour but start with only 1 Tbsp water for half recipe (2 Tbsp for full recipe).
Thanksgiving 2010 mishap: I tried making 2 single-crust pies at the same time for Thanksgiving, using my 9″ pie pan and 10″ quiche pan. For the crust I intended to use: 1 3/4 cup whole spelt and 1/2 cup each whole oat & barley flours; 3/4 tsp each salt & sugar, 13 Tbsp butter (1 cube plus 5 Tbsp) and 1.5 Tbsp yogurt mixed with 2 Tbsp water.
The butter was supposed to be 4 T melted and 9 T cold. But I mistakenly melted 1 cube (8 T), and when I mixed it with the dry ingredients, the dough was very "wet." So I cut in only 4 T cold butter (instead of 5). And I used only 1 Tbsp water with the 1.5 Tbsp yogurt. The dough was very soft so I formed it into a ball and let it rest, thinking all was well.
Outside temps have been hovering below zero, so admittedly my house was probably not as warm as usual. The crust was quite hard to roll out – it kept splitting, leaving cracks. I filled in the cracks, but it was very fragile and impossible to crimp the edges in the pan. I lined the crust with parchment and filled with dry beans for the first baking. When I removed the parchment & beans, pieces of the crimped edge fell off. After the second 10 min bake, tiny cracks formed in the crust as it set. I brushed a bit of egg over the cracks, so the filling wouldn't leak through.
Conclusion: The crust was nicely crumbly and had good flavor, but if I do 2 pies together next time, I'll follow instructions and use 4 Tbsp melted butter, then cut in 9 Tbsp cold butter. And I'll use 2 Tbsp water with the 1.5 Tbsp yogurt. But I'll probably have the best luck if I mix each crust separately.
Testing 1/4-5/13: I had been having great success with this recipe since 2010, until August 2012 when I decided to give up grains for 3 weeks to see what would happen when I restarted them; I used a ground almond and coconut flour crust in the meantime. When I made this recipe again after that experiment, it just wasn't right. It wouldn't hold together for the overnight rest. I tried adding more water but that made it tough. More butter helped but it still wasn't right. I used 1 1/2 cups whole spelt and 1/2 cup whole wheat (total 2 cups flour). Sifted with stevia and salt, then worked in 3 Tbsp melted butter followed by 5 Tbsp cold butter (total 1/2 cup) << here is the error – s/b total 12 Tbsp butter (3/4 cup). Mixed 1 Tbsp yogurt with 1 Tbsp cold water and mixed that in but way too dry. I added another 2 Tbsp water, and it sort-of formed a ball but felt dry. Next day it was difficult to press into the pan because it was dry. It baked well and isn't tough, but I think it could have used more butter. My regular recipe (9" 2-crust) uses 2 cups wheat flour, 1/2 cup butter and 4 Tbsp lard, total 3/4 cup fat, and 4 – 7 Tbsp water.
Testing 1/29-30/2013: for kuchen: This time I used 2 cups flour (1 1/2 c spelt, 1/4 c each kamut and barley), plus stevia and salt as in original; 3 Tbsp melted butter (as b4) and 7 Tbsp cold butter (10 Tbsp total). Felt much better and actually formed a ball readily. It was cold in my kitchen the next morning so dough was stiff and a bit hard to press into pan, but it was not too dry. Filled with peaches & raspberries, then custard for kuchen. Perfect!
This entry was posted in Baked, Dairy, Fat or oil, Flour, Sweetener and tagged butter, flour, yogurt. Bookmark the permalink.


Student life can be amazing and at St John's we believe that students are amazing! We hope that you will find a home where you can belong, to grow & be equipped for student life.
We offer car lifts to our Six Thirty service from North Towers Taxi Rank (Colchester campus) at 6:10pm each Sunday in term time. After the service you can expect time to get to know people over tea, coffee, hot chocolate and cake. Students then enjoy pizza together and time for a discussion about a topic relevant to student life before heading back to campus at 9:30pm.
There are plenty of opportunities to get involved in the life of the church family. You can join a team that helps with youth, worship, refreshments or many other things. There are also some opportunities to be mentored by older members of the church.
We'd love to hear from you, especially if you are a fresher starting at Essex University in September.


Oh yeah! Head over to Flipbook.tv to learn more about it or watch the video below. The app is actually updated if you download it now. Little finessing of the menus, no landscape mode though, just portrait for now.
FlipBook for iPhone and iPod Touch from Josh Anon on Vimeo.
There's an elitist vein of snobbery running through our industry right now, where some "keyframe" artists like to stand up on their pedestal and look down their noses at animators working with mocap. Some of these animation purists even have the unbelievable audacity to proclaim themselves the only "true" animators, and that animators working on photorealistic films such as Lord of the Rings or performance captured films such as Beowulf are not "animators" at all, but rather some tech-heads doing grunt work or something.
How quickly they've forgotten that not so long ago, the 2D animation industry was saying the exact same thing about them!
Head over to Disney.com to watch the teaser.
Ok, still, head scaling should be very subtle during pose transitions, but isn't this clip FANTASTIC?
Head over to Victor Navone's blog and check out his post on Posing.
Just like the Facial Animation & Lipsync post, this one will be a list of fellow animators' use of Reference, how they go about it.
Jeff Cooperman posted a great overview on how he uses reference.
A new post that popped up is Michal's over @ splinedoctors, which you should definitely check out.
Another recent one is Shawn Kelly's webinar, in which he explains his use of reference, step by step.
These posts are about what tools you can use to find reference, what you should look for in your reference. and my use of reference.
2. is the final pose ok? change too fast?
3. the monkey hand is gone?
1. It is very long, yes. But for this clip I think it's okay because you don't want to rush things.
3. The monkey hand is almost gone. :) But it still looks like a grab. You need to have a pose like x155 on his hand and then move the hand as if the object was really hot. He's hesitating, not grabbing.
When he grabs the object, you need a facial reaction before he moves back and lets go. I would squint his eyes at the end as he tries to look into the thing, then he sees what's inside, opens his eyes real wide and then goes into what you have at x204.
You can also get to the reaction at x260 sooner. I would have it around x236. Just cut that pause and move your animation so that 260 happens at 236.
When he's in his pose at x294, add little eye darts, like he is processing what he has done, instead of just being still like that. Don't extend the shot, just add more thinking.
2. Final pose is good. The change is good too, he wants to pretend that everything is okay, so he needs to get into that pose quickly so people don't realize what he did. But you could speed up how he looks up during 310 to 322.
For a while I took a lot of fancy, posed pictures of the Batman and Animated SW Maquettes ones, I should post those one of these days.
This is a cool silhouette picture that I found on Bobby Pontillas' blog. Head over there for more information about it. In that post is also a fun clip he did about a basketball player, check that one out as well.
Carlos Baena points to a buttload of sweet Iron Giant model sheets.
... I started to look for tutorials and tips online and as always, there's a lot of good stuff out there.
First, Keith Lango's "Principles for Lipsync Animation".
Then there's a post on Spline Doctors - "Subtlety in the Face"
You also have Shawn Kelly's "21 Principles of Lipsync Animation".
Continuing with the face you got tips about eyebrows in Carlos Baena's resource section.
Another Spline Doctor post about "Eyes in Animation"
Leif's deconstruction of a blink.
If you know of other tips and tutorials, add them in the comments section.
Make sure to watch the Animation Mentor webinar with Bobby Beck. Great advice and tips in this one.
Those guys on the right look awesome!
Animated-News also has a link to the first image of an actual shot.
But still worth a listen for those in search of audio clips.
"Emily in the Clouds", "Gotch Ya'" are cool. Remember my hatred for the lower eye lid twitch? It's in "Snack Attack"... But there is some awesome timing stuff in that one too. Love it how he wants to grab the steak but then hits glass wall. "Fame and Fortune" is by Nick Pitera, which has crazy singing skills.
I don't know if it's the pop in the quicktime loop or not. But it feels like that almost towards the end of the swing, the arm accelerates a bit and then there's a pop. But again, that could be the loop.
frontview: I should have mentioned that before, sorry, but can you lower the tip of the raquet after x1 into x10? If you look at the arm and arm movement it looks like it swings forward into that position, then swings back the same way. You want to keep the arc going and one way would be to lower the tennis raquet after the forward swing.
There is still some funkiness: Look at frame 0, then 1. The back foot is barely moving backwards (it should be even spacing as it goes back). Same thing from x3 to 4. Then x4 to 5 the foot just lifts up but the rotation (with the tip of the foot going down) is not happening. You have it at x7, but it should be a smooth transition into that. I can show you in class, remind me to act it out.
Same with the other one at x16 to 17 with barely any movement back, then a lift up with no rotation and then rotation sets in. You can also delay the rotation (moving the foot tip up) at x22, rotate the foot down a bit (same with the other one at x10).
Head over to Spline Doctors for it.
One of the best classes in terms of film making I took at the AAU was Pixar 3 with Jimmy Hayward and Alex Orelle. I would have pages of notes due to Jimmy's ongoing rants, verbal abuses and movie recommendations (sounds familiar, doesn't it?). It was awesome. His movie recommendations were great and forced me to open myself up to all kinds of movies, good and bad, old and new, all serving the greater purpose of learning visual storytelling.
After graduating in Spring I took one more class in Fall with Scott Clark and Angus McLane. I was again told to watch at least one movie a week (I believe Angus said that) and I've tried to do that ever since. Animation is not just about moving things around in a pretty and entertaining way. You need to be a filmmaker as well. You need to think about storytelling, which tools you can use to do so, like the use of camera, staging, composition, color, movement, sound, etc.
One of the best ways of learning something new is by immersing yourself in it. Want to learn French? Go to a French speaking country and live there. Obviously it's not always easy to do just that. Same with film making. Not everybody has time and money to take classes and whatnot. But one easy and entertaining way is to watch a lot of movies. So pick up basic film making books (here and a lot more here), learn the basics so you know what to look for, but most importantly, start watching movies.
It will help you with building a visual library of acting moments, camera set-ups, composition, editing, how to lead the audience's eye, etc. You will also quickly compile a huge list of audio clips that you can animate to. All that serves as inspiration, guidance, or at least a starting point for your shot so that you can embellish on that and make it your own.
But where do I start? What movies should I watch?
There has to be a class you can take at the AAU about film making and that will give you a quick overview of classic movies. Look into it, take advantage of the classes that are being offered. Apart from that, why not just go through the typical list of AFI's Best Movies of All Time. Or you can go through here, here and here. Or here. It's very easy to google for a best-of list. Agree with the list or not, at least pick and choose some of them and start going through the list. Comparing the list you will find so many movies that show up on all of them, and there is probably a good reason why that is. But don't just go with classics like Citizen Kane, The Day the Earth stood still, North by Northwest, 2001, French Connection, The Thing, Godfather, etc. make sure you check out classics like Goonies, Big Trouble in Little China, Ghostbusters, Stripes, Haunted Honeymoon, Up the Creek, Porky's, etc. etc. ... etc.
And of course Ice Pirates. Gotham Knight was meh. Just watch Batman Begins. And The Prestige. And... you get my point.
sorry for the slow posting and lack of online critiques. We are really really busy at work and it takes up most of my time during the week, so whatever time is left is spent with my family.
I will critique the shots I'm getting as soon as time permits, so if you've sent me something, you will get feedback.
- I can look at the shots and give very broad comments (unfortunately there is no time for frame-by-frame critique). While you're waiting, start working on your next shot (planning, blocking, audio research, reference, etc.).
- I hope you understand that my current students have priority, but I will get to your clips eventually. If you kept working on it, keep sending me update so I don't critique an outdated clip.
Here's a very cool and detailed workflow from Jacob Gardner (thanks Regis!), covering planning, pre-production, animation, etc.
Just a friendly reminder to always check online for animation info. So if you haven't already, go through Shawn Kelly's "Animation Tips & Tricks" posts. Latest one being: "What is a Key Pose?".
The point is, even if you know what a key pose is, don't just skip that post, I encourage you to go through it, because to me it's always interesting and helpful to hear and read other opinions and other approaches.
So once you're done with that one, check out the free AM webinars and Carlos Baena's site of course. Yes, I'm repeating myself but again, just a friendly reminder.
The webinars are long (which is good), so get a drink ready, make yourself comfortable and go through them. For instance, one of the topics in Shawn's videos is how to use video reference, and he will show you step by step what his process is.
But, I installed my Wacom driver yesterday and registered my quicktime copy today. So, I will get rid of the Wacom driver and use a normal mouse and get Carpal Tunnel syndrome until I get my marble mouse. Let's hope the tablet driver was the culprit. I just can't believe it would be Quicktime.
Needless to say, those things I mentioned in the "upcoming posts" ... post... that I wanted to do are on a back burner. "DAMN IT!" as Jack Bauer would say.
Don't forget to bring your latest and greatest to class today. The latest version of all your clips. I'll set up a separate folder and you can dump it in there.
I can't use Maya on my laptop here (I'm not at home), so I can't check your file. But judging by the clip it looks like there is a looping problem. Usually in a cycle your first and last frame are the same, so when you playblast the movie, you need to cut off the last frame. For example, your cycle goes from 1 to 45, then playblast 1 to 44.
Make sure that your extreme poses are correct, so with a walk it's the extended leg pose and your passing pose.
So frame 0 looks correct as the extended leg pose, but your passing pose is off, that's where the trouble begins. Even when checking over multiple poses, the passing one is off. x6 should have his left leg extended (so the body should be higher). Timewise it should be around x8 or 9.
Also, the walk has to be always moving. The feet have to take a step, so the move forward, once they hit the ground, they have to move backwards. But you have x0, where the front foot seems to touch the ground. But until x4 your front foot (and back one to an extend) is not moving.
Look at your feet rotation as it lifts. From x13 to around x19 the orientation stays pretty much the same. Make sure that you make it look like the foot pushes off the ground and then rotates back up.
Now, after having fixed what I mentioned above, it will all change, but what stands out right now is that your hip weight shift is not there. So look at x8, where the weight is on the screen right leg, so your hip on the right side should be up and down on the left. And don't forget to add little left and right overall body movement as the body shifts the weight over each leg.
The beginning looks good, but right when it hits the ground (where's the frame counter?) it slows down very quickly, but speeds up after that. Check that your translation curve doesn't have crazy hiccups.
What looks weird is the jump. First, it's too fast. The up is working the best, the hangtime needs to be longer and the drop needs to be longer. The front foot also needs to be more in the middle of the board before the ollie (he needs to adjust the foot before the ollie) and end it where you have it now.
Ok, two things stand out, the head has no overlap, it's moving/rotating down as the body moves down. When the body goes down, the head needs to come down a few frames later.
The other thing is your body in the front view, there is still no left to right movement. So when the screen right leg is off the ground, move the body screen left so that the weight is over the screen left leg. Then when the screen left leg is off the ground, you move the body over screen right.
Pixar Animator Michal Makarewicz will answer audience questions during a Saturday appearance at the Balboa Theater, which is screening Disney-Pixar's "Wall-E".
The animator also worked on such features as "Ratatouille", "Cars" and "The Incredibles.". He won an award from ASIFA, the animated film society, for his work on "Ratatouille".
The theater is at 3630 Balboa St., San Francisco. For more information, call (415) 221-8184, or go to www. balboamovies.com.
Looks good! I really like how (in the side view) the upper body/neck/head movement works.
What I'm missing in the front view is more hip action, showing the weight distribution from leg to leg.
I would also relax the index and middle finger more, give the hand/fingers a more relaxed posed, right now all the fingers are cupped the same way.
What sticks out the most to me in the front view are his arms, they don't feel like they are finishing the arcs on the forward swing.
Careful with overextending the legs. Check his right leg on x17, then x18. It goes from bent to super straight. You can see the pop in the front view. Same with the other leg. Also, don't slow down the translation of the feet as they go back. You slow down towards x11 with little spacing between each frame and then suddenly a bigger difference from x12 to x13. It's even more apparent looking at the other foot from x23 to 0.
But again, really nice feel in the upper body.
Here's a follow up that started with this post about polish (scroll all the way down) and ended with yesterday's talk in class about what polish is exactly.
To recap: "If the blocking is correct and your breakdowns are in place, the polish phase should only enhance the animation, .... It's not there to change the [overall] timing."
Polishing your shot should not change the overall timing and idea of your acting choice, body movement, etc. But instead of writing down what I said yesterday, I will point you to a post about polish that I just read, found @ Synchrolux via Cooked Art's "Other News from the Grapevine...".
Just like a certain someone in our class who prefers to listen to his friends' advice as opposed to what is said in class, even though the advice is the same (I couldn't resist, I had to mention it! Your email still cracks me up! ;) ), you might understand or prefer to read about the aspect of polishing better when explained by someone else. And no, I'm not having a pity party or anything like that, it makes total sense. How many times did my parents tell me what to do and I never did, but when my friends said the same thing, I somehow got it. Wait, did I just compare myself to being a parent and you guys are my children? Hmm.... Anyway.
Even though no one had questions yesterday after that polish lecture, I'm just going to assume that you want to know more about it and hear/read an explanation presented in a more professional way, without me going off on a tangent talking about Bernie's ding dong. Wait, what?
There's a lot more to read and I can't just copy/paste the whole thing, so please head over to Kevin Koch's SynchroLux and read the post "How much polish is too much?"
You can also listen to John Kahrs' podcast about Polish. There are some great comments about time management and what is the most important part to fix and polish.


text:
Q: Retrieve Output from Method How can I get the output from the following method?
public static string getLimitedWords(string str,int NumberOfWords)
{
  string[] Words= str.Split(' ');
  string _return=string.Empty;

  if(Words.Length<=NumberOfWords)
  {
        _return = str;
  }
  else
  {
        for(int i=0;i<NumberOfWords;i++)
        {
              _return+=Words.GetValue(i).ToString()+" ";
        }
  }
  return _return.ToString();
}

A: If debugging, try System.Diagnostics.Debug.Write(getLimitedWords(yourString,yourNumberOfWords));
If using ASP.NET, try Page.Response.Write(getLimitedWords(yourString,yourNumberOfWords));
If using Console, try System.Console.Write(getLimitedWords(yourString,yourNumberOfWords));

A: Such a poorly asked question, but I can't resist optimizing your method:
public static string getLimitedWords(string str,int NumberOfWords)
{
    return String.Join(" ",str.Split(' ').Take(NumberOfWords).ToArray());
}

As for the answer to your question, I can't figure out what you're asking. Rephrase the question and you might get a more useful answer.

A: The output of the method is a string. Which means that depending upon your platform, you can display it any number of ways.  The following snippet from a C# Console application is one such way:
string str =  "This is a String of Words";
int numberOfWords = 5;
Console.WriteLine(getLimitedWords(str, numberOfWords));
Console.Read();

The output is:
This is a string of
You can also assign the output to a string and display that any number of ways:
string output = getLimitedWords(str, numberOfWords);
Console.WriteLine(output);

A: I'm just trying to guess what you need here:
String answer = getLimitedWords( str, NumberOfWords);

Console.WriteLine ( answer );

Could it be something like this?


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This lodge was initially established in 1898 making it more than a century old. At it's heyday, the Wood River Lodge (formerly the Denali Wilderness Lodge) hosted many guests and offered a variety of different excursions. These excursions included guided nature hikes, a petting zoo, and even guided hunting trips. After being operational for more than 100 years, the lodge was closed in the early 2000s. It has recently been reopened and is now owned and operated by a real Alaskan family!
This excursion provides one-hour of round trip scenic flight time over the gorgeous, untouched landscape east of Healy. You'll fly over beautiful fauna and mountains where Dall sheep, moose, and caribou roam. We'll even take you the long way around taking you over the pristine Yanert glacier located in the Alaska Range. We'll touch down at Wood River's airstrip where your guide will meet you to begin the land segment of your adventure. Your guide will offer a simple nature walk around the Wood River Lodge providing a history of the area and narrating their experiences of living off the grid in rural Alaska. Once this part is concluded, join the crew and the rest of your group around a bonfire to roast marshmallows before concluding your excursion with a flight back to Healy!
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Contact with Homestead Excursion Inquiries!


The SciArtist is the first volume to present criticism, commentaries and creative responses to Carl Djerassi's literary texts, taking the author's achievements far beyond "the Pill." It represents a complex conversation between the inhabitants of Djerassi's many, and very different, worlds.
Walter Grünzweig is Professor of American Literature and Culture at TU Dortmund University and specializes in transatlantic literary and cultural relations.


text:
Q: Making two conditional/loop statements with a simple statement work in one python line This is a python grammar question.
Why is it not possible to run if test: for list: one-statement in one line in python? e.g.:
a=1
b=[1, 2]
if a: for x in b: print(x)
  File "<ipython-input-52-8abcd450fc7a>", line 3
    if a: for x in b: print(x)
            ^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax

I understand that it'd be an issue with indentation should there be 2+ statements to follow, but one statement creates no ambiguity. Am I wrong?
Splitting the one-liner works, as it disambiguates it:
a=1
b=[1, 2]
if a:
    for x in b: print(x)
1
2

Looking at the python grammar we have:
if_stmt: 'if' test ':' suite ('elif' test ':' suite)* ['else' ':' suite]
suite: simple_stmt | NEWLINE INDENT stmt+ DEDENT
simple_stmt: small_stmt (';' small_stmt)* [';'] NEWLINE
small_stmt: (expr_stmt | del_stmt | pass_stmt | flow_stmt |
             import_stmt | global_stmt | nonlocal_stmt | assert_stmt)

Won't something like the following change to if_stmt allow for such simple nested statements in one line?
simple_for_stmt: 'for' exprlist 'in' testlist ':' simple_stmt
if_stmt: 'if' test ':' (suite ('elif' test ':' suite)* ['else' ':' suite] | simple_for_stmt)
                       ^                                                  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Besides the change to if_stmt I defined a new token simple_for_stmt.
Of course this is just for the for statement, but it could be adjusted for while and others.
I understand, of course, that perhaps keeping things simple is the best approach in python land - add the damn new line!
note: this is not a help-me-make-my-code-run question. The code example is just to demonstrate the issue, it doesn't need to be fixed/improved. So please refrain from suggesting how the example code can be rewritten in a different way. Thank you.
I'm using python 3.6.6.

A: I think the the solution you propose is a hint as to why it was never implemented. The change would add a lot of complexity to the grammar with very little real benefit. A few simple statements could be shoe-horned into a single line, but the change would create a number of confusing edge cases.
The Python docs explicitly say that
if test1: if test2: print(x)

must be illegal because it would not be clear which if a following else clause belonged to. (Obviously, an arbitrary decision could be implemented, but that would still cause confusion for readers of the code.) This argument also applies to for statements (and other compound statements) because in Python a for statement can also have an else clause.

A: The problem is not the if statement, it is the for statement.
What you want to want can be do as follows
a = True
b = [1,2,3]
if a: [print(x) for x in b]


text:
Q: Kotlin override abstract val behavior, object vs class I've just started using and started messing with abstract classes, override val's and singeltons. But, I've just encountered a really odd behaviour. My goal was to have an abstract class, and then create several singeltons that extends that abstract class. Since i want to require certain variables i created abstract val that then could be overridden in the subclasses (Instead of passing them through the constructor).
So i got 4 classes:
MainActivity:
class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {

    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)

        val instance = Instance()
        Log.d("MainActivity", "instance randObject: ${instance.randObject}")
        Log.d("MainActivity", "instance randObject: ${instance.randObject.myProp}")
        Log.d("MainActivity", "instance randObject: ${instance.randObject.myProp2}")

        Log.d("MainActivity", "singleton randObject: ${Object.randObject}")
        Log.d("MainActivity", "singleton randObject: ${Object.randObject.myProp}")
        Log.d("MainActivity", "singleton randObject: ${Object.randObject.myProp2}")
    }
}

Instance:
class Instance: AClass(){
    override val testString: String = "test"
    override val testUriString: String = "https://www.google.se"
    override val testUri: Uri = Uri.parse(testUriString)!!
    override val randObject: RandomObject = RandomObject("Herp")
}

Object
object Object : AClass(){
    override val testString: String = "test"
    override val testUriString: String = "https://www.google.se"
    override val testUri: Uri = Uri.parse(testUriString)!!
    override val randObject: RandomObject = RandomObject("Herp")
}

AClass:
abstract class AClass{
    abstract val testString: String
    abstract val testUriString: String
    abstract val testUri: Uri
    abstract val randObject: RandomObject

    init {
        Log.d("AClass", "testString: $testString")
        Log.d("AClass", "testUriString: $testUriString")
        Log.d("AClass", "testUri: $testUri")
        Log.d("AClass", "randObject: $randObject")
    }
}

Output:
D/AClass: testString: null
D/AClass: testUriString: null
D/AClass: testUri: null
D/AClass: randObject: null
D/MainActivity: instance randObject: com.technocreatives.abstracttest.RandomObject@4455b26
D/MainActivity: instance randObject: derp
D/MainActivity: instance randObject: Herp

D/AClass: testString: test
D/AClass: testUriString: https://www.google.se
D/AClass: testUri: null
D/AClass: randObject: null
D/MainActivity: singleton randObject: com.technocreatives.abstracttest.RandomObject@8b19367
D/MainActivity: singleton randObject: derp
D/MainActivity: singleton randObject: Herp

After this I came to the realization that overridden probably are not initialized until after the init{} has been executed. But then I saw what happened when i created a singleton. The value testUriString is set in the init. Why is this the case? Is it a bug? What is the expected behaviour of singleton and override val?
I tried searching for the documentation but have not found any information about this in the documentation.

A: The difference in the behavior that you observe is caused by how backing fields are generated for properties in classes and objects, and also by how those are initialized.

*

*When a class overrides a property using a backing field, under the hood, there is a separate instance field in the derived class, and the overridden getter returns the value of that field.
So, when you access the property from inside the super class constructor, it's the overridden getter that is called, which returns the null value of the field (it is uninitialized at that moment, since the super constructor is called before the class' own initialization logic).

*On contrary, when you define an object overriding a class, then the underlying class Object has its backing fields defined as JVM static fields.
The Object class has an instance as well (it can even be accessed in Java as Object.INSTANCE), and this instance is initialized at some point in time and calls the super constructor.
Now the interesting part: when the class Object class is loaded by the JVM, its static fields that are be initialized by constant values already contain those values, even before the PUTSTATIC instruction in the Object's <clinit> is executed.
If you change the testString initializer to a non-constant value, it will not be initialized by the time it is accessed, e.g. override val testString: String = "test".also { println(it) }
Here's a gist with the bytecode of such a singleton with a few marks made by me.
Note that the field is accessed by the constructor of the abstract class before the value is put in the <clinit> of Object.
I'm not sure it's actually a bug, but at least the behavior is inconsistent. I've reported this inconsistency to the issue tracker: https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/KT-21764


If Hilary Clinton becomes the Democrats' nominee I predict that Donald Trump will claim the White House in November.
The World spends more of its Scarce Resources on prolonging the lives of the frail elderly, many of whom are in a terminal condition, than does in promoting the health of babies and young children.
In most of the world's countries more money is spent on prolonging the lives of the elderly than in promoting the health of their greatest resource, children. The situation reaches the height of absurdity in the case of dementia patients. The resources required to provide daily care for these people are considerable. Especially for those in the final stages there is no quality of life and it is difficult to imagine that they could actually wish to remain alive.
I have personally experienced both ends of this medical resources scandal in Australia.
Expensive care of the elderly when no quality of life remains.
My father, Peter Spencer, with his granddaughter, Claire.
This was probably not long after his dementia began.
Firstly, my own father died last year after a long battle with vascular dementia, at the age of almost 91. The last three years of his life were spent in a high care nursing home and I would candidly assert that he did not have a good quality of life for several years before that. For the three years before he entered the nursing facility my sister lived in his house and acted as his carer. By 2012 he had deteriorated to the point where she could no longer cope.
Unfortunately, my father had not made any sort of advanced health care directive so the nursing home was legally obliged to keep alive for as long as reasonably possible. During the three years he was resident in the home I had occasion to see the detail of medical tests and treatments he had been receiving. The number and estimated costs thereof were truly staggering. My dad was a truly kind and wonderful person. However, by this time, his essence had largely gone.
As a self-funded retiree it was my father's own money that paid for his care in the facility. In addition he was required to pay a similar amount in the form of government taxes. However, the situation is completely different for those on the aged pension. Eighty-five percent of their pension is taken for their keep in nursing homes. The rest of the considerable cost is borne by the public purse and hence the tax payer.
Fewer resources are directed at the health and welfare of babies and young children.
Again, my understanding of this side of the equation is from my personal experience. My little daughter, Claire, died on 6 June 2008 from no known cause. She simply went to sleep and didn't wake up. This was ten days before her second birthday. This phenomenon is known as SUDC (Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood) and is applied to children over one year of age who die this way. It is much rarer than SIDS.
I don't wish to digress from the topic too much but Claire was a totally gorgeous spirit. Even before she could walk she would willingly share her toys with other children and her food with the dog. Later, she would walk up to the lonely and dispossessed, and brighten their day. I had never seen such a shining light before in my entire life.
Two months before she passed away, Claire experienced four febrile convulsions in a 12 hour period. During the first one she stopped breathing for 30 seconds. She was taken by ambulance to a private hospital. They assured us that febrile convulsions were harmless and sent her home with instructions that she be given Panadol to lower her temperature. Late that evening, she had another minor convulsion and then another major one. Again we called an ambulance. This time we took her to the public hospital on the Gold Coast in Queensland where we live.
We were placed in a corner and left for several hours.
Then, in front of a group of doctors, she suffered a major convulsion. Finally, her situation was taken seriously and she was admitted to the Children's Ward for 24 hours. We asked what tests could be performed to discover the cause of the convulsions and what could then be done. The doctors suggested that because of her age she wouldn't be able to keep still enough for an MRI. To this day I still don't know if their reluctance to perform any tests was due to the question of financial cost. We even offered to pay for any tests but none (apart from simple blood tests) were offered. Her febrile convulsions were ascribed to a high temperature caused by an unknown virus.
After 24 hours in hospital Claire was discharged and we were given instructions to monitor her temperature and judiciously administer child doses of Panadol. We followed this advice and all was well for a while. Then on that fatefully day, two months later, Claire died in her sleep.
My wife and I can't help wondering if the situation would have been any different had the amount of resources expended on the elderly been applied to the health of babies and young children. Statistics from around the world will bear out the fact that the expenditure on prolonging the lives of the elderly is much greater than that devoted to the health of young children! Although I am somewhat elderly myself I see this situation as a gross travesty of natural justice.
Posted on February 13, 2016 Categories UncategorizedTags child loss, costs for elderly, grief, lack of resources spent on childrenLeave a comment on The World spends more of its Scarce Resources on prolonging the lives of the frail elderly, many of whom are in a terminal condition, than does in promoting the health of babies and young children.
In the contemporary world very few things make me at all proud of being Australian. However, the fact that Julian Assange is a country man of mine and from the state where I live, is one of those few. For years he and Wikileaks, the organisation he founded, have strived to expose gross wrongdoing and corruption on the part of governments, worldwide. Unfortunately, such wrongdoing and corruption is the norm rather than the exception. Unsurprisingly, the targets of these attacks use any and all methods to strike back.
The very recent UN judgement that Assange's predicament is a form of detention, unfair, unreasonable and a violation of human rights cannot but be seen as a substantive vindication of the justice of his cause. His fear of being extradited to the USA and receiving a massive judicial punishment for his whistle blowing activities can hardly be viewed as unreasonable or unfounded. One of the Wikileaks informants, Bradley Manning, is currently serving a massively lengthy jail sentence in that country.
The fact that the United Kingdom and Sweden are currently ignoring this UN judgement is also less than surprising. Both countries (as is Australia for that matter) are heavily leveraged by the USA's power base and situation. They simply dare not challenge the government of the USA on this question as they would have too much to lose. Additionally, I can't imagine any governments that would enjoy their secrets being exposed by Wikileaks. Corruption and abuse of power is so much the norm that it is probably the major reason that humanity is rather quickly descending into a gloomy and miserable future. The USA may be bad enough but the governments of Russia and China are probably much worse. Undoubtedly, they would be hot on Assange's trail if he had managed to expose their darkest malfeasances. If that had been the case he may not have even been alive now.
It is becoming obvious that, around the world, ordinary honest people are becoming increasingly marginalised and finding it more difficult to simply survive. Fewer and fewer champions of any semblance of decency are to be found.
Organisations such as Anonymous, appear to be largely noble minded rather than self-serving. All over the world, most politicians are commonly viewed as feeding at the trough at our expense. The few admirable ones seem to support the adage that the exception proves the rule. Of course, part of the human condition involves imperfection and inconsistency. Politicians may sometimes act for the common good and then return to the old habits. Also, the better world leaders are often constrained by the undesirable powers behind them. It may well be the case that personally, Barrack Obama, would like to publicly abandon any pursuit of Assange. However, this is simply not possible. Obama hasn't thus far safeguarded his improvements to the US health system and has made almost no headway in gun control. Mind you, fear of governments and politicians has probably contributed to the resistance about changes to the Second Amendment.
Despite his outrageous and populist statements Donald Trump has done very well so far in the presidential race. In all likelihood this success comes down to two facts. Firstly, he is NOT a politician (so far). Secondly, he is using his own money to fund his campaign.
In a non-politically correct world Julian Assange might be accused of having attractive females representing him as legal counsel.
Since this is a politically correct word, except in so far as justice and honesty are concerned, Jennifer Robinson's looks are entirely irrelevant to the whole Assange question. Likewise, any other female spokespersons who act on his behalf cannot be considered on any other grounds than their integrity and ability.
In all probability the old allegations of sexual misconduct originating from the Swedish Prosecutor's office are anything but fair and reasonable. Increasingly the entire Assange case looks like a case of a corrupt and powerful Goliath attempting to squash a little 'David'.
The whole Assange case and its ramifications for World powers exposes the most alarming of situations. Although terrorist organisations such as ISIS, ISIL, Daish, Islamic State or whatever they call themselves are quite apparently grossly barbaric and driven by a lunatic ideology, they have one thing going for them. The blindingly obvious corruption of the majority of governments around the world, and particularly over the Middle East, fuels support for any entity that is standing and fighting these governments. Under current circumstances any organisation challenging the world status quo would receive wide support amongst the impressionable young particularly. Given ISIS's skilful use of social media as a way of sidestepping the world's power base their hitherto success in attracting foreign fighters is hardly surprising.
Bombs and warfare alone will not put Syria, Libya, Iraq and much of the world back in order. To regain public support and belief the world powers must reform their own houses first. Chasing Julian Assange and other whistle blowers to the ends of the earth is hardly the way to do this!


Other retailers were reluctant to buy from the distributor because the retailer that was buying direct was a big competitor and had a built-in price advantage over them.
The consequently low sales of the distributor to the other dealers meant the distributor was not generating enough profit to fund any marketing.
So the USP of Levy's strongly branded strategy was unable to be leveraged.
In exploring alternative business models, another issue that arose was the reluctance of distributors to risk upsetting their ongoing business with the large retailer by being seen as taking direct supply of Levy's away from them. The solution was to have the biggest distributors see the enormity of the sales potential when Levy's was marketed as a brand to the fashion-crazy Japanese youth, and have the big retailer see how their Levy's sales could increase many times over by there being a distributor marketing the brand effectively.
This meant the returns for the distributor outweighed the risk, and the risk was simultaneously much reduced by the retailer buying into doing far greater business on Levy's by a distributor investing strongly in promoting the brand to create and drive ever greater demand to their stores.
Some of Japan's largest and most respected distributors were approached. The conclusion of our work saw Yamano Music Company launch with a high-visibility in-store display programme and advertising campaign that fully leveraged Levy's brand marketing. Sales in Japan reached the high levels they were always capable of. Yamano and Levy's have continued to build their mutual sales together for over eight years since.


The gaming industry is growing fast with new technologies, and the gaming appliance market is also booming as the gaming industry grows. For instance, the demand of high-quality displays has been soaring these days.
According to a report released by WitsView, Trendforce, the global unit shipments of gaming displays in 2017 was 2.5 million, with an annual growth of 80%. The shipments are expected to increase by 1 million by the end of 2018, with a total of 3.7 million units on the market.
The fast-growing gaming market surely has brought more opportunities for the peripheral appliance and display vendors. However, quality has also become customers' prior concern and thus it is important that vendors put more emphasis on quality assurance and look out for potential risks.
Since the release of USB Type-C, we can see it being widely used in gaming devices, and we believe USB Type-C would eventually become the standard specification of gaming displays.
So what is good about USB Type-C? Type-C offers a solution featuring reversible architecture, power delivery (100W), and A/V transmission (Up to 10Gbit/s) via a single port. However, with such convenience, USB Type-C does suffer from some potential risks. According to a test report run by Allion, we found out that there are some USB Type-C issues that may damage users' review on products.
There are certain gaming displays on the market that do not function properly, and surprisingly those displays claimed to have been tested. Some common issues include black screens or a fail in plug and play. Just imagine when you turn on the screen to enjoy the next game, but your display goes wrong, and this awful experience could sabotage your faith in the products.
1. Why is my screen black?
According to Allion's big data analysis, black screen accounts for 20% of display problems, and we believe vendors should take this matter seriously. Screen errors like black screens could lead to customer dissatisfaction. Here are some common scenarios: (1) when users connect devices using USB type-c, the screen monitor is black, (2) when users try to wake their devices but only to find out that their devices are on but nothing is showing on the screen.
Eventually, customers would file complaints regarding black screens to the display vendors, and sometimes they might even ask for a refund. What we have noticed is that most vendors are baffled as well, and they are not aware that t such issue arises mostly due to a fail in interoperability with the other USB Type-C devices.
2. Does Plug and Play or Billboard issue happen?
Plug and play (commonly referred as PnP), allows users to activate devices without downloading any driver software. However, there are some issues regarding this particular function. One issue users often run into is that PnP fails to recognize the device when connecting, and sometimes leading to a distorted resolution. Another issue arises when users plug in the device and the Billboard of USB Type-C display does not offer correct options that users need.
When display vendors deal with these USB Type-C connection issues, they should always check on the interoperability of the device and display first.
Theoretically, when your display is connected to your device, it should be automatically optimized to the highest resolution. However, plenty of monitors on the market fail to enable this function. For instance, resolution is not optimized to the highest level when you connect your devices to USB Dongle/Docking. Issues like this will leave users negative impressions on the products, and poor resolution will very likely reduce user's willingness to keep playing the game.
USB Type-C is also known for its power delivery (PD) feature, but we should be extra careful when using such function. It is important that displays with USB Type-C get tested for safety purposes, since untested displays might cause charging or even burning issues.
Here we would like to share two frequently seen issues from our past testing cases.
As we mentioned earlier, USB Type-C devices can be used to charge other devices, such as mobile phones, earphones, and so on. While the display supplies power via USB Type-C, here are some circumstances when devices cannot be charged: such as (1) cables are connected but the devices cannot be charged, (2) when devices are in low battery mode, or (3) when displays are in sleeping mode or even in wake up mode. These issues could seriously damage vendors' credibility.
This issue often happens on legacy cables like USB Type-A to Type-C. The quality of USB Type-A to Type-C on the market varies greatly, and they usually have different resistors. If used wrongly, the cables will very likely cause an irreversible damage to your devices.
The abovementioned issues remind us once again the importance of having your products tested and certified. Getting a certification will largely reduce the potential risks, and most importantly, reassure your users that the products are safe to use.
As the gaming ecosystem grows, gamers are also taking their gaming experience to the next level, and the demand for high-quality displays has also been soaring. With rich testing experiences in the high-tech supply chain, Allion provides our clients professional consultancy regarding gaming displays and its peripheral appliances. From displays, monitors, to Docking, USB Dongle, or even KVM switch, Allion provides tailor-made testing services for each product. We make sure your products are functional, efficient, and of course, enjoyable.
If you have any inquiries regarding Allion's service on USB Type-C testing, please contact us via service@allion.com.
This entry was posted in Technical Blogs and tagged Display, Gaming Monitor, USB Type-C, USB Type-C Ecosystem.